Hot Potato

This is another activity which I learned from Emma Vanderpool, a Latin colleague and few CI-user in Massachusetts. It is a collaborative activity which can be used to preview a story, to review a known one, or as a warmup using known vocabulary. Here are her directions:

1. Students should sit in a large circle. All should have a whiteboard/marker/eraser.
2. Project the story/reading on the board.
3. Students have a set amount of time to draw (varying from 20 seconds to 1 minute).
4. After the timer goes off, students then pass the whiteboard clockwise.
5. Students should then pick up from where their peer left off.
6. After the timer goes off again, students again pass their whiteboard, and so on until you judge that the time is up.
7. Return the original whiteboard to students to review what should be illustrated there.

Observations

1. For each round, I gave students 25-30 seconds to read what was on the board and then 15 seconds to draw. The 25 seconds gave students a chance to re-read the story/sentences on the board, to look at what had already been drawn, and what needed to be added. Giving students only 15 seconds meant that they had to be quick in their drawing but essentially, they drew less which allowed for more rounds and for the activity to last longer.
2. There is a lot of critical thinking in this activity, because it causes students to re-read the sentences and to compare it with the whiteboard pictures which they have each time to see what is missing. Lots of close reading required!
3. Instead of a circle, I made it one continuous circuit so that the whiteboards traveled about 8-9 students. When we finished, students got their whiteboards back, and it was fun for them to see what had been added to their original drawing. Plus, since they had illustrated the story over a series of different whiteboards, they knew how they themselves had drawn the various parts of the story, so they liked seeing how others had drawn it.

Lucky Reading Game

This is a great post-reading activity which I learned about this semester. When I first explained it to students, they thought that it seemed rather basic and pedestrian, but once we started playing it, it really got competitive! This activity is from Senora Chase's blog, so I will link the directions from her blog below.

Lucky Reading Game directions

Observations

1. When I first tried it out, I had teams of 3-4 students, but since my classes are usually 30 students in a somewhat small contained space, there were WAY too many chairs up front, which made it rather uncomfortable and difficult to manage. Plus, it did not give enough time for "resting" team members to review the story. Rachel Ash made a change of having teams of 7-8 students, which made now 4 teams. This was MUCH easier to manage up front.
2. Keep the game moving quickly - this will keep students engaged and create a fast-paced environment. As soon as students pick a card, call up the next set of contestants.
3. Once students began to realize how this activity worked, they really began to do lots of close reading of the passage.
4. Show the scoring equivalences AFTER all questions have been asked.
5. Every game, change up which cards receive 30 points to preserve the novelty. The scoring charts shows Red 3's as receiving 30 points, but the next time, make it Black 5's or something else.
6. I will throw in a Double Card bonus every once in awhile to keep the game novel. Because students are still choosing a card at random, the bonus may not be as much as wanted.
7. I have a couple UNO decks which I am considering using the next time I implement this activity - again, solely to preserve the novelty.

Thanks, Senora Chase, for this activity!

Find the Difference

This is great, quick post-reading activity which you can do with students. I got this idea from Annabelle Allen's blog (if you are not reading her blog, bookmark it!), specifically from her post on "Milking Movie Talks." Bob Patrick and I had done a Movie Talk last week, and I was looking for some new novel post-reading activities to do with it. Annabelle's post was perfect for what I was looking!

"Find the Difference" is exactly what students will do: find the differences in a reading which you have been reviewing!

Directions

1. Type up a current reading, and make vocabulary word changes to it. It is important that students are quite familiar with the reading. In many ways, you do not want to completely change the reading - you do not want more differences than similarities.
2. Print up reading.

Classroom

1. Students will need a highlighter for this activity.
2. Hand out a reading to each student. You can pair them up if you want to focus on collaborative work.
3. Explain that students are to find the differences in the reading from the real story. Tell students HOW MANY differences for which they will be looking. This will be very helpful for students.
4. When students find a difference, they are to highlight the word(s) in the story. 
5. Review the answers with students. I projected the story onto a whiteboard and had students come up and underline the difference.
6. As an extension, you can ask students to replace the differences with the correct word(s) in the target language.

Observations

1. I was surprised at how quickly students were able to get through this activity. Because it was a reading with which students were familiar, (due to being a Movie Talk and having gone over it a few different ways), it did not take long.
2. Because I had told them ahead of time how many differences there were, students paid closer attention to the reading.
3. This is another great way for students to interact with comprehensible messages. 
4. Students were becoming tired of this story so this activity gave the reading some novelty!

Example in Latin:

Knock Knock Movie Talk reading

Ecce vir! Vir in spondā considit. Rē verā, vir totum diem agere vult in spondā. Rē verā, vir cenāre vult in spondā!

Subito, aliquis ianuam pulsat. Vir ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, nemo adest. Quod nemo adest, vir ianuam claudit. Aliquis iterum ianuam pulsat. Rē verā, vir totum diem agere vult in spondā. Rē verā, vir cenare vult in spondā! Vir iterum ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, nemo adest.

Vir iterum ianuam claudit, et iterum in spondā considit. Subito, aliquis iterum ianuam pulsat. vir ianuam non aperit, quod totum diem agere vult in spondā! Vir cenare vult in spondā!
Iterum aliquis ianuam pulsat! Vir valde iratus est!

Vir irate ianuam aperit. Rē verā, nemo adest! Vir ianuam claudit, sed rē verā, non in spondā considit. Aliquis ianuam pulsat. Vir iterum ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, nemo adest...

Find the Difference reading (changes are italicized here for your purpose)

Eheu vir! Vir in lecto considit. Rē verā, vir totum diem agere vult in Germania. Rē verā, vir aspicere televisionem vult in Germania!

Subito, aliquis ianuam pulsat. Vir ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, parvus catulus adest. Quod parvus catulus adest, vir ianuam claudit. Aliquis iterum ianuam pulsat. Rē verā, vir totum diem agere vult in lecto. Rē verā, vir cenare vult in lecto! Vir iterum ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, infans adest.

Vir iterum ianuam claudit, et iterum in spondā crustulum consumit. Subito, aliquis iterum ianuam pulsat. Vir ianuam non aperit, quod totum diem agere vult in spondā! Vir cenare vult in armario! Aliquis iterum ianuam pulsat! Vir valde laetus est!

Vir irate ianuam aperit. Rē verā, magnus porcus adest! Vir ianuam claudit, sed rē verā, non in ursa considit. Aliquis ianuam pulsat. Vir iterum ianuam aperit, sed rē verā, nemo adest…